Remember when we watched Schenley Park’s great horned owls from late winter into early spring? Great horned owl fledging season is long past but woodland “earless” owls have just reached fledging time in Europe and North America. Let’s take a look at the family life of two species.
Tawny owls in Europe (Strix aluco) and barred owls in North America (Strix varia) are in the same genus Strix, the “earless” owls that inhabit forests, parks and suburbs. They resemble each other in appearance and breeding behavior. Both nest in tree holes, on snags or in structures such as nest boxes.
In the U.K. tawny owls reached hatch time in early to mid-April. This video posted on 17 April by Robert E Fuller shows three eggs hatching at a tawny owl nest in Yorkshire, UK.
By late April, tawny and barred owlets were half grown. Here’s an evening feeding early this month at the Wild Birds Unlimited Barred Owl nestcam in Indiana. As the video begins you can hear one of the parents hooting.
This month barred owlets in North America’s mid latitudes are “branching” before they fly. This 7-minute video shows a barred owlet doing some risky maneuvers in the trees.
Usually we can’t see the chicks during feedings at the Pitt peregrine nest but yesterday evening at 6:30pm Carla stood in the back of the nestbox and faced the camera while all three chicks stood in a row to grab food from her beak, and from each other. See their 10 minute feeding in the video below. Here are some things to notice.
The two larger chicks are 17 days old, the smallest is 14 days old. At this point their size difference is a good indication of sex: the two largest are probably female, the smallest is probably male.
Notice that the small chick grabs the food before his sisters can and sometimes has a tug of war with one of them. In a couple of weeks, just before they fledge, I bet he’ll grab the entire meal and mantle over it.
Near the end of the feeding when the sisters are not hungry they move away and Carla feeds the small one exclusively.
Standing up. They walked to get here, 7 May, 11:38a
Sitting like 3 Buddhas, 7 May, 4:47p
11 May 2025
Between last weekend, 3 May, and middle of last week, 7 May, the Pitt peregrine chicks grew from a huddled mass to sitting Buddha shapes as shown in this slideshow.
At Kiberg, Norway a building’s exterior was refurbished to house kittiwake nests. As of 25 March this year, the Kittiwake Hotel was fully booked.
The Kittiwake Hotel is fully booked! So cool to see the new hotel being appreciated ?? Built by the local fishermen in Kiberg. We designed and helped to give the project wings, with $ help from a seabird science project. Good conservation with a solid local component… pic.twitter.com/8qw4nJqXKS
— Biotope / Tormod Amundsen (@Biotope_Tormod) March 25, 2025
Kiberg has a human population of about 200 people.
It seems there are more kittiwakes in Kiberg than there are humans. 🙂
*A NOTE ON NAMES: In Europe these birds are simply called “kittiwakes” but North America there are two species: black-legged and red-legged kittiwakes.
When I stopped by Duck Hollow early this week I was amazed to see so few mallards and all of them male when only a month ago I saw many more ducks and both sexes. The difference now is that female mallards are on eggs. The males have nothing to do. They never incubate and they don’t help raise the kids.
Last month each female mallard chose a nest site under overhanging vegetation, typically on the ground and typically near water, where she laid a clutch of 1-13 eggs. She incubates the eggs for about 28 days and when she reappears she’ll have ducklings in tow. At night she will brood them until they’re two weeks old.
Experimental evidence has shown that mallards may be able to assess mammalian predator risk by detecting the animals’ urine at potential nest sites.
Urban mallards sometimes nest on woodpiles, on buildings, and on artificial structures such as docks and boats. Not the female in a planter shown above.
Unlike wild mallards, urban mallards will re-nest if the first clutch is destroyed or if all chicks are lost to predation. They even raise second broods if they are in unnaturally crowded populations. (*So this is a puzzle: They are overcrowded yet they raise a second brood anyway. Why?)
It is rare for a female to abandon her nest during incubation but is common under crowding and in urban populations. (Crowding makes them crazy?)
In the coming weeks mallard eggs will hatch and families will appear on the water. Watch for scenes like this at the end of May.
Happy news from four peregrine nests in the Pittsburgh area: Cathedral of Learning, East Liberty Presbyterian Church, Sewickley Bridge, and Tarentum Bridge.
Cathedral of Learning, Univ of Pittsburgh:
Ecco and Carla have three fluffy chicks ranging from 8 to 11 days old. In the photo above, Carla is about to retrieve yesterday’s evening meal while all three stand up to wait for what comes next. Food!
Female peregrine on the East Liberty Presbyterian steeple nest
Just before the big storm hit on Tuesday 29 April, Adam Knoerzer watched the East Liberty peregrines and captured photos and video. The female waited at the nest while the male went out hunting.
Peregrine hunting from East Liberty Presbyterian steeple, 29 April 2025 (video by Adam Knoerzer)
And then the sky got really dark just before the storm hit. Yikes!
Sky in the northwest behind East Liberty Presbyterian Church, 29 April 2025 around 5pm (photo by Adam Knoerzer)
I believe the eggs have probably hatched by now at East Liberty. More news later.
Sewickley Bridge, Ohio River:
Female feeding young at the Sewickley Bridge nest, 3 May 2025 (photo by Jeff Cieslak)
Happy news at the Sewickley Bridge! Jeff Cieslak reports that the eggs have hatched! As of 3 May the female peregrine was feeding young in the nestbox. The male watched from the top of the bridge.
Male peregrine watching at the Sewickley Bridge, 3 May 2025 (photo by Jeff Cieslak)
Tarentum Bridge, Allegheny River:
3 chicks at the Tarentum Bridge, 2 May 2025 (screenshot from Dave Brooke via FB)
At the Tarentum Bridge three chicks looked to be about 22 days old [not 25] on 2 May per Dave Brooke‘s video. Check out the nestbox from these vantage points.
SUMMARY FOR SOUTHWEST PA:
All the peregrine sites are listed in the table below BUT YOU HAVE TO SCROLL to see them. Except for the nests mentioned above, there is no news from any other site except for Downtown where I hope to scope the nest area from Mt Washington today. (Ack! Running out of time before I leave for Magee Marsh so, no, I won’t get there this week.)
Help fill in the blanks below by visiting a site near you. Leave a comment if you find anything!
Dana recommends the Homestead side of the river at the Costco back lot (1000 Sandcastle Dr, West Homestead, PA 15120. Pin drop: 40.402230, -79.922830). He writes:
Best spot is Costco’s back lot by their loading dock [see pin drop map here]. The nest is far away and you will need binoculars or a spotting scope to see it. [While there] You get to see fly ins and outs and can see the eaglets when they are up. We spoke with Costco management and they are OK with people viewing the nest from their back lot as long as we keep it clean and don’t interfere with the truck traffic. … That is where I have been posting the pics from.
— email from Dana Nesiti, 2 May 2025
SPECIAL NOTE: If you go to Costco remember you are on private property so be sure to be unobtrusive and cooperative. Do not park at the loading dock, do not park in the access road (i.e. park far away). Do not block anything. Move if you are asked to move. You won’t want to ruin this opportunity for yourself *and* for everyone else. See information on public property viewing spot below.
To help you find the nest tree from that vantage point, Dana included a photo of the hillside with the nest tree circled in yellow and this explanation of what to look for.
If you park back there [at Costco] and walk to the corner and look across the river you will see a spot were there was a landslide. At the top of the landslide to the left is a sycamore tree that they are in (circled in attached image).
— email from Dana Nesiti, 2 May 2025
Glen Hazel hillside with bald eagle nest circled, May 2025 (photo by Dana Nesiti)
With a scope, binoculars, or a high-powered camera you can see the parents and eaglets as shown in Dana’s photo below.
Bald eagle nest at Glen Hazel, late April 2025 (photo by Dana Nesiti)
As the trees leaf out it may become harder to see the nest.
Public property viewing spot = WALK 1 MILE out on the Duck Hollow Trail: I investigated a second viewing spot on public property described by John Carson in the comment below. Today I walked it and clocked the distance = 1 mile from the Duck Hollow Parking Lot; 2 miles on your feet because you have to walk out as well.
Slight bummer: When I got to the viewing spot I could see the big nest from below but no eagles were visible; eaglets were probably sleeping. 40 minutes spent to see … sticks.
Remember: If a watcher messes up with Costco this 2 mile walk is the only choice.
Hays eagles nesting at Glen Hazel, 24 April 2025 (photo by Dana Nesiti)
30 April 2025
When the Hays bald eagles did not nest in Hays Woods this spring, eagle watchers were puzzled. The Hays nest tree had fallen last year but surely the pair would build in another tree on the same hillside. The urge to nest is biologically imperative for bald eagles and it was hard to imagine the pair had completely left the area. So where were they?
About two weeks ago, hunches on their whereabouts began to pay off. By 19 April Dana Nesiti and Wendy (Eaglestreamer) had found the nest in Glen Hazel, across the river and upstream from the Hays site. Field marks on the adults proved they’re the same male and female as last year’s Hays pair and, even better, they’ve been bringing food to the nest and bowing in feeding-the-chicks mode.
How many chicks? On 20 April Dana made a video of the nest that answers that question. Look closely! Two fluffy gray chicks poke their heads above the nest rim.
Within 10 days Dana had collected a lot more footage and Bill Powers of PixCams began figuring out how and where to set up a streaming camera for the remainder of this nesting season. All the latest developments are covered in this video from CBS Pittsburgh posted on 29 April. (Note: The closeup nest footage is from prior years at Hays, not from this year in Glen Hazel.)
It sounds like a Glen Hazel nestcam could be online by late December. Meanwhile for the latest news and views, check out Dana’s posts at Eagles of Hays PA on Facebook and his videos at Canonusr on YouTube.
Speaking of sounds, the Hays eagles have moved to a new neighborhood, but the sound “Haze” (Glen Hazel) is still in their name.
UPDATE 5 MAY 2025: Where to see the Glen Hazel bald eagle nest
Dana Nesiti gave me directions to the best viewing spot for the Glen Haze eagles’ nest. Go to Homestead Costco’s back lot.
Best spot is Costco’s back lot by their loading dock (40.402315, -79.9227297). It is far and you will need binoculars or a spotting scope to see. You get to see fly ins and outs and can see the eaglets when they are up. We spoke with Costco management and they are OK with people viewing the nest from their back lot as long as we keep it clean and don’t interfere with the truck traffic.
Here’s what you’ll see from there. As the trees leaf out you’ll have a harder time seeing them.
Glen Hazel bald eagles’ nest as seen from Costco back lot (photo by Dana Nesiti)
Look for the landslide on the right, then scope up and left for the nest.
After the third egg hatched yesterday morning Pitt’s peregrine family expanded to five: Carla, Ecco and three chicks.
In this one minute video, Ecco is sheltering the chicks at 11:38am after Carla took away the leftovers from their recent feeding. Ecco leaves when Carla returns.
